#86 The Heart of a Goof, by PG Wodehouse (Everyman's Library)

Another PG Wodehouse, and another book from the great man about sport, but this time it's golf which is the focus of The Heart of a Goof.

Earlier this year, I read a book devoted to Wodehouse's love of cricket and the effect of the sport on his work. It now seems surprising that there was no mention of golf, because Wodehouse clearly has a deep affection for the game, and, in a foreword, even mounts a vociferous defence against any potential criticism that he is wasting words on what some might consider an inconsequential subject.

As if I didn't like Wodehouse enough already, he points out that it's through golf and other sports that real drama is created and is most truly evident. Which is exactly the argument I make to the Wench when I want to watch a significant sporting event...

But enough of that. The book itself is a collection of short stories, but has the neat trick that each is introduced and related by the same person, 'the Oldest Member' of a golf club, who adroitely traps someone into listening to his latest tale. With some of the stories also containing the same characters, it never feels like a simple compilation, though, and there is plenty of progression and real character depth.

You're never far from a humorous situation with Wodehouse, and of all the authors I have read this year, there isn't one who is easier to read and who makes turning the pages such an reflex action - and so enjoyable.

So, rating time:

#86 The Heart of a Goof, by PG Wodehouse (Everyman's Library) - 8/10

Next up: Sharpe's Company, by Bernard Cornwall (Harper Collins)

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#67 Wodehouse at the Wicket, edited by Murray Hedgecock (Hutchinson)

I like PG Wodehouse. I like cricket. So Wodehouse at the Wicket, a study into the impact the sport had on the great British novelist, and his writing, plus a selection of articles, was pretty much right up my street. Or aiming right at my stumps, if you prefer a bit of cricketing parlance.

As a newish Wodehouse convert, I must admit that I wasn’t aware that cricket featured so heavily in his work, but thinking back to Psmith Journalist, main character Psmith was only in New York to accompany a friend of his on a cricket tour.

Among the revelations which stood out was that famous butler Jeeves was named after Warwickshire cricketer Percy Jeeves, who was renowned for his gentlemanly ways. The short cricket-based articles with which Wodehouse was able to start his writing career were entertaining, too.

Overall, the Murray Hedgecock-edited tome is mildly diverting rather than enthralling, however. It’s well researched, and there are some great insights, particularly into Wodehouse the schoolboy cricketer, but it’s a little too insubstantial, although not insignificant, to really impress.

So, rating time:

#67 Wodehouse at the Wicket, edited by Murray Hedgecock (Hutchinson) - 6/10

Next up: The Drought, by JG Ballard (Harper Perennial)

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Print deadline approaches

Four months to go, and 38 books to read. I thought it was about time for a catch-up on this 100-book challenge enterprise now that the two-thirds mark has passed, in terms of the year at least.

Yes, I’m slightly behind schedule by about four books (approximately 12 days). But on the bright side I’m once more ahead of the Friend of the Wench – and that’s all that really matters…

Of course it’s not. It’s about enjoying literary excellence, or lamenting its absence, and after my latest visit to the library (of which I will write at some point this year) I have now lined up my next nine books for the coming month or so.

I’ve also got a list of around 50 books which have been recommended to me by various parties, for which I’m very grateful, and I’m trying to work my way through these as best I can. These range from Margaret Atwood to John Wyndham via Aldous Huxley, JG Ballard and Brady Udall.

At this stage of the year, it’s getting to the point where I have to prioritise, however. I wanted to read the entire Armistead Maupin Tales of the City series, but have only read the first so far (and enjoyed it). Do I really want to use up three or four of my remaining 38 just to complete the set.

And what about the likes of personal favourites Paul Auster, PG Wodehouse and George Pelecanos? I’ve read a number of their works already this year – shouldn’t I use the remaining time to seek new authors? After all, without this challenge, I might not have found them.

It’s a lot to ponder, but I can’t take too long to think about such decisions. After all, there’s more reading to be done.

#59 Jeeves in the Offing, by PG Wodehouse (Arrow Books)

One of the main themes of PG Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster series is the astute acumen and advice of butler Jeeves. So, married as I am to a ginger goddess, it was slightly concerning to read of Jeeves' views regarding red-haired women early on in Jeeves in the Offing.

"I would always hesitate to recommend as a life partner a young lady with quite a vivid shade of red hair," says the butler. Oh? Bugger...

After two wonderful Wodehouse books, I was slightly (and only slightly) disappointed by Jeeves in the Offing. It was good, of course. It was warm and witty, full of bon mots and fun frolics concerning an 18th century silver cow creamer, kleptomaniacs, misguided romances and more.

But I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous two.

So, rating time:

#59 Jeeves in the Offing, by PF Wodehouse (Arrow Books) - 8/10

Next up: Ella Minnow Pea, by Mark Dunn (Methuen)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating

#47 Psmith, Journalist, by PG Wodehouse (Century Hutchinson Limited)

Regret wasn’t a feeling I was expecting after embarking on this challenge. Enjoyment yes, interest definitely, maybe a bit of boredom, but certainly not regret – yet that was my overwhelming emotion after finishing Psmith, Journalist, my second PG Wodehouse book.

I should clarify. It’s not regret at having read this particular novel, but rather a sense of guilt that I waited this long into my life to tackle any of Wodehouse’s celebrated oeuvre. Which, so far, is brilliant.

In the front of my copy of Psmith, Journalist, there is a list of all of PG Wodehouse’s books. Excluding autobiographies, there are 92 in total and the way I’m feeling at the moment, little would make me happier than reading the complete works over the 12 months and adding on another eight books by other authors to complete the century and my challenge.

It’s not possible, of course. Not only did I read 40-odd books before picking up my first Wodehouse novel, Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin, I’m also limited to some extent by what’s available in the library. That and the fact that I’m trying to read new authors – and who knows what other wonders are out there – means my eye must occasionally wander away from the shelf of Ws. But I hope that illustrates just how eagerly I’m devouring his work.

The books themselves sound insubstantial. Psmith, Journalist tells the tale of an Englishman in New York, who alters the direction of a cosy weekly newspaper into a hard-hitting tabloid taking on social issues and attracting the attention of local gangs, but Wodehouse is so witty and his use of language so deft that it’s a real joy.

When I visit the library (about which I promise I’ll write more another time), I take out about nine or 10 books at a time, and I then try to sort them into some kind of order to ensure a bit of variety and that I don’t have to read two similar books back-to-back, and so forth. This month, it was a real struggle not to throw the system (if not the books) out of the window and read the Wodehouse straight away, and I can give no higher praise.

So, rating time:

#47 Psmith, Journalist, by PG Wodehouse (Century Hutchinson Limited) - 9/10

Next up: One Day, by David Nicholls (Hodder and Stoughton)

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#44 Occupied City, by David Peace (Faber and Faber Limited)

I was planning to read Tokyo Year Zero and Occupied City, the second novel in David Peace's Tokyo trilogy, back to back, but found myself so drained by the first instalment that I needed some light relief - a role PG Wodehouse fulfilled perfectly.

I enjoyed Occupied City more than Tokyo Year Zero, but many of the comments I made in that review apply once more. There is significantly less repetition, less use of the stylised prose which Peace favours, in favour of interwoven sentences which see entire chapters use italics and CAPITAL LETTERS to convey three disparate strands. As before, it's extremely complex and hard to follow, and the overall effect is that the mind focuses on the sensory impact of the words more than the story itself.

Rereading my review of Tokyo Year Zero, it struck me that I should have given an example of the complicated sentence structure Peace commonly uses, so here's a quick excerpt, taken completely at random, from Occupied City:

"Beneath the Black Gate, in its upper chamber, in the candle-light, no plague-light; white light, hospital-white, laboratory-white, then grey, an overcast-skin-grey then open vein blue, blue and now green, a culture-grown-green then yellow, yellow, thick-caught-spittle-yellow, streaked sticking-string-red, then black;
black-black, drop-drop, black-black
step-step, in the plague-light
drop-drop, step-step,
in the plague-
light-"

And there's just short of 300 pages of that (which is less than Tokyo Year Zero, admittedly).

The plot is also better, by the way. We've moved on a couple of years in post-Second World War occupied Tokyo and now police are investigating a bank robbery in which 12 people were murdered (poisoned). As usual, it's based on a true story and an author's note later reveals an appeal to clear the supposedly guilty party's name continues to this day, posthumously.

Interestingly, Peace has borrowed the Rashomon format, whereby the same event is revisited and retold by several different protaganists, shedding new light on events in the process. This is set against another investigation being carried out into Japan's biological warfare operation.

Each chapter is different. We are treated to the transcript of a detective's notebook, the recollections of a journalist, the testimony of a survivor and ultimately an account by the man who confessed to the crime. It's hugely varied and powerful, and if you want a book to really challenge you, start here.

So, rating time:

#44 Occupied City, by David Peace (Faber and Faber Limited) - 7/10

Next up: Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane (Harper Collins)

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#43 Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin, by PG Wodehouse (Penguin Books)

Another novelist I'd never read before was PG Wodehouse, and it's taken me around four years to take the advice of TC (who also recommended Paul Auster, by the way), although I overlooked his suggestion that I begin with the classic Jeeves and Wooster series. After completing the book, the main question I was wondering was ‘why had it taken me so long’?

I read Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin while stuck at an airport for around five hours waiting for the plane upon which I was due to fly to be fixed, and I can honestly say that this book was the only reason I managed to maintain my patience.

Thoroughly enjoyable, with lots of neat post-modern asides from the writer to the reader, Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin is not only funny, its chaotic and convoluted plot meanders this way and that as the reader sympathises with the main character and his efforts to first prove himself worthy of marriage and then try to escape from his engagement – with added criminals, movie moguls, private detectives, nightclubs and the obligatory (in a Wodehouse novel, apparently) large country house.

Set in a world in which butlers and the like are the norm, I have to admit I was thoroughly charmed.

So, rating time:

#43 Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin, by PG Wodehouse (Penguin Books) - 9/10

Next up: Occupied City, by David Peace (Faber and Faber Limited)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating